Friday, June 19, 2009
The surprising limits of President Obama's vast power
It really is astonishing that Barack Obama is able to get virtually anything he wants out of Congress -- billions for this, trillions for that -- but somehow cannot extract a lousy few million clams to close Gitmo, a policy that the Democratic Party stands united behind. It's almost as though the president is telling the public one thing, and quietly signalling Congress -- perhaps using a dog whistle -- to do the opposite.
Perhaps Congress would give him the money if he left the room.
3 Comments:
By 
, at
Fri Jun 19, 10:53:00 PM:
I think you're quite right about that dog whistle (inscribed with the initials R.E.). At the time, it seemed inexplicable to me the POTUS would have his Democratic support so quickly evaporate on a symbolic issue.
By , at
Fri Jun 19, 11:21:00 PM:
I think you are exactly right, after the uproar over the four he sent to Bermuda. Too bad he and the rest of the Dems aren't honest enough to admit that simply closing Gitmo isn't feasible.
Retread
By , at
Sat Jun 20, 01:11:00 AM:
Why are you astonished? It's not as if Republicans actually control anything these days. Much is made of one of the most irrelevant issues to hit the pike: whether the Senate is veto-proof or not. What possible difference could it make when Obama isn't going to veto anything anyway? For the record, W didn't veto much of anything until the Democrats took control of Congress in 2006.
